HMS Fly - The 'prehistoric' ship

Eagle-eyed readers of Prehistoric Australia will no doubt recall that we made mention of the British vessel, HMS Fly, and its role in uncovering some of Australia's earliest prehistoric fossils. (And if you can't recall this offhand, then turn to page 24. Yes, that's it, the second paragraph. Got it? Good! Then we may proceed...)

So, what was a British naval vessel doing so far from home, digging up dinosaur bones on the other side of the world? Actually, finding fossils was the last thing on the Fly's "to do" list. It was actually surveying much of the coast of north-eastern Australia, as well as New Guinea, during 1842-46. As part of its mission to accurately map new trade & shipping routes in the region, the Fly carried out surveys of the Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait, as well as Whitsunday Island and the Capricorn Islands.

HMS Fly was captained by Francis Price Blackwood. Amongst its crew was the geologist Joseph Beete Jukes and the naturalist John MacGilivray. An illustrated account of the voyage and its discoveries, titled Sketches in Australia and the adjacent islands, was published in 1849 by the expedition's draftsman, Harden S. Melville.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what the 'HMS' in HMS Fly stands for, it means 'Her Majesty's Ship' - so named, because Queen Victoria was Britain's monarch at the time. (If a king had been enthroned, HMS would represent 'His Majesty's Ship'). And, on a related note, Australia's modern naval vessels bear the prefix 'HMAS', which stands for 'Her Majesty's Australian Ship'.